Pancake day is tomorrow and social media will be full of pictures and different recipes to honour this simple but delicious dish.
I want to contribute with the Spanish version, filloas, traditional from Galicia, in the North of Spain.
I cooked these filloas you see in the picture on Saturday morning. It took me nothing as the recipe is simple but contains all the traditional flavours! It was a wonderful breakfast, by the way!
Filloas are similar to the French crepes but thinner as they are made with wheat flour instead of buckwheat flour.
They can be also sweet of savoury and the fillings too. It’s a traditional dessert cook for Carnival and during Eastern in Spain.
Another characteristic of the filloas is that can be made as well with stock or blood. Yes, blood, no very popular now a days as the blood that was used to cook them came from the pigs that were slaughtered in January or February.
Also, as filloas were a humble dish, people used the ingredients they had at home. And for example, to grease the frying pan they used a portion of lard. That gives the filloas a special flavour but you can use butter or olive oil instead.
So, here is my recipe. Very simple and easy but I can guarantee you won’t leave any filloas on your plate!
For 8 filloas
250 ml milk
3 eggs
50 g wheat flour
A pinch of salt
A pinch of sugar
A little bit of butter or olive oil (or lard) to grease the frying pan.
You will need a big bowl to mix all the ingredients and a frying pan around 24 cm diameter.
So, in a bowl, beat the eggs, add the milk and whisk it up. Add the pinch of salt and sugar and strain the flour on top. Then, whisk it up again until you get a smooth texture. Let the mixture to rest for a half hour.
Then, grease the frying pan with a bit of butter and in a medium heat pour a big spoon of the mixture (like 35 g). Move the mixture around to cover all the surface of the frying pan. Let to cook and when you see the borders start to separate from the pan and get a light brown colour, flip it over with your hands. Don’t be scared as it’s a quick movement so you won’t burn yourself 🙂
Let it cook a bit more for this side and take it out to the pan. Put in a plate and carry on with the rest. With this amount of mixture you can cook 8 filloas.
About fillings, there are millions of recipes, sweet and savoury. However, one of my favourite is the simpler one: spread a teaspoon of sugar and lemons juice on top. You don’t need anything else! Just enjoy it!
